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Steven Henry Lopez is Assistant Professor of Sociology at Ohio State University. "Based on his immersion in heated campaigns, Lopez analyzes just how difficult organizing for today's trade unions can be. Still the Sisyphean effort goes on, led by unions, such as SEIU, which notch up victories despite the uphill struggle. Lopez's participant observation is a model of clarity, theoretical imagination and methodological innovation. It is a must-read for anyone who wants to understand why unions are so weak in the US, and how they could become stronger."—Michael Burawoy, President of the American Sociological Association "Lopez's beautifully written, lucid analysis of the new labor movement bristles with insights. This rare insider's account of contemporary organizing consistently avoids the easy answers and relentlessly confronts the limitations of union achievements, even as he appreciates their transformative potential."—Ruth Milkman, Director, UC Institute for Labor and Employment and author of Farewell to the Factory " Reorganizing the Rust Belt is the best ethnography around of what it's like, day-to-day, to be inside an organizing campaign and contract mobilization. Lopez brings to life the limits and problems, the changes over time, the victories and ambiguities, experienced by workers and organizers in a progressive union."—Dan Clawson, author of The Next Upsurge: Labor and the New Social Movements Zusammenfassung Demonstrates how, despite a hostile legal environment and the punitive anti-unionism of US employers, a few unions have organized hundreds of thousands of low-wage service workers in the past few years. This title illustrates how post-industrial, low-wage workers are providing the backbone for a reinvigorated labor movement across the country. Preface: Postindustrial Pittsburgh: Low-Wage Work and the Challenge for American Labor Acknowledgments 1. Introduction: From Business Unionism to Social Movement Unionism PART I: CONFRONTING WORKING-CLASS ANTIUNIONISM INTRODUCTION TO PART I: ROSEMONT PAVILION 2. "See You Next Year": The Failure of Traditional Organizing Tactics 3. "It’s a Union": Why Face-to-Face Organizing and Collective Action Tactics Succeed Epilogue to Part I: Organizing and Organization PART II: DEALING WITH ORGANIZATIONAL LEGACIES INTRODUCTION TO PART II: THE NEW URBAN POLITICS OF ALLEGHENY COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA 4. "Save Our Kanes": Bypassing Organizational Structures 5. "We Want a Contract": Confronting Business Union Organization Epilogue to Part II: Social Movement Unionism and the Problem of Power PART III: SOCIAL MOVEMENT UNIONISM: CHALLENGING THE POWER OF CAPITAL INTRODUCTION TO PART III: MEGACORP AND THE SEIU IN PENNSYLVANIA 6. "We Will Not Be Silenced": Escalating Mobilization 7. "Whatever It Takes, as Long as It Takes": Exploiting Antiunionism Epilogue to Part III: The Ambiguity of Victories Conclusion: Social Movement Unionism and Social Movement Theory Appendix Notes Bibliography Index ...
